


Survival of the SpaceMonkey and his Colonel

by milanthruil



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-15
Updated: 2014-08-15
Packaged: 2018-02-13 06:28:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2140605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/milanthruil/pseuds/milanthruil
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack and Daniel are on the way home from recovering a cargo ship on a mission. Things go terribly wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Survival of the SpaceMonkey and his Colonel

**Author's Note:**

> For theemdash.
> 
> Prompt Requirements:  
> 1\. Ship wreck  
> 2\. Season 4 or later  
> Optional Request: Daniel as a capable soldier with Jack recognizing this fact (Either recognizing it for the first time, or backing up Daniel's expertise to others).  
> Restriction #1: No cheating or jealousy  
> Restriction #2: No heavy kink

Daniel opened his eyes and looked around at the twisted wreckage of the tel’tac.

This looked bad.

He felt something warm trickle toward his right eye. Great. He had a head wound then. He carefully tested each part of his body and, finding no major injuries, slowly pushed himself into a sitting position up against the now awkwardly tilted bulkhead.

“Jack?” He coughed, creating a disturbance in the smokey-swirled air around him. “Jack!”

Ugh. His head ached.

He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to remember where he’d last seen Jack.

Jack had been piloting the cargo ship. The one that had just crashed into… something…

Daniel wasn’t sure if it had been a planet or a moon that had loomed in front of them when they’d suddenly dropped out of hyperspace. He only remembered seeing a mass of something solid and hearing Jack urgently shouting at him to brace for impact before everything went dark.

_Jack!_

Daniel’s eyes flew open.

He needed to find Jack.

He pushed himself up the bulkhead and staggered toward the front of the ship.

“Jack!” Daniel held his arm up to cover his mouth and nose with the sleeve of his jacket. The air was heavy with smoke from the damaged fuses and crystals. His foot slid on the currently slanted floor and he almost went down. He cautiously made his way to where he remembered Jack being and stopped in his tracks.

“Shit.”

Jack was slumped in the seat; his right shoulder hanging noticeably out of its socket. His left knee appeared a little bruised through the tear in his pants and blood covered the left side of his face from a nasty looking gash through that same spot in his eyebrow.

Daniel gently felt along either side of Jack’s cervical vertebrae and was relieved to not only feel a pulse but to not feel any obvious signs of injury. He couldn’t really check the rest of Jack’s spine in the position he was in without moving him, but moving him could-

Jack took the decision out of Daniel’s hands by slipping to his left.

Daniel caught him before he hit the floor. “Well, I suppose I can’t make it worse at this point.”

Sparks exploded from the steering mechanism.

Daniel flinched as some of them hit his face. He had to get Jack out of there. He carefully dragged Jack into the cargo hold and found a clear place to lay him down.

The muscles in Jack’s face twitched slightly.

Daniel took off his jacket, wincing at the pull on bruised muscles, and turned it into a makeshift pillow for Jack’s head. “Hang tight, Jack. I’m going to take a look outside.”

If he could find a safe place outside to build a fire they’d be okay for at least one night.

Daniel opened the back hatch and took a breath of fresh air.

The sun was beginning to set, but even in the low light Daniel spotted what looked to be a building. Daniel figured that, since nobody had come to see what the commotion was, the place was most likely abandoned. That suited him fine for the moment. Though, he hoped _somebody_ lived on this rock and could direct them to a Stargate.

He’d worry about that later. First he would have to make sure Jack’s injuries weren’t too severe.

He approached the stone building to find it was indeed abandoned. And had been for some time judging by the state of the ruins.

He could work with this.

When he returned to the ship, he briefly searched for anything he could use to help them survive. Their packs were fairly intact, which meant they had some rations and a full first aid kit. He pulled the sleeping bag from Jack’s pack and laid it on the floor next to Jack. Jack was still out of it. Daniel reached for the penlight from his own pack, and quickly checked the dilation of Jack’s pupils for possible concussions He figured Jack had a mild one judging by his response and hoped there was nothing else too serious. Though that wasn’t Daniel’s area of expertise. However, this he remembered clearly from one of his first digs, a few thousand miles from the nearest hospital…

Daniel bit his lip and looked at Jack’s dislocated shoulder

He might as well get this part over with

He gripped the two parts of Jack’s shoulder, moving Jack’s arm around gently until he got them into the right position.

“Sorry, Jack. This is going to hurt like a bitch.” he murmured before shoving Jack’s shoulder back into place.

Jack’s eyes snapped open and he moaned. “Danul…” he slurred.

“Hey, Jack.” Daniel spoke quietly as he opened the first aid kit and took out a premeasured syringe of morphine. “How you feeling?”

Jack moaned.

“Can you tell me if anything hurts besides your head, shoulder or your knee?”

“No.” Jack groaned through gritted teeth.

“All right.” Daniel got the syringe ready. “I’m going to give you some morphine. And before you protest, I’m going to have to do some _more_ things to help you that are going to hurt like hell and I think we’d both feel better if you were out for most of it.”

Jack glared but conceded and gave Daniel a thumbs up with his left hand. Too worn out to talk any more.

Daniel stuck the needle into Jack’s left arm to avoid further injury to his right and depressed the plunger. “You take it easy now, okay? I’ll get us out of this. Somehow.” He watched as Jack’s eyes fluttered closed and waited until he was sure Jack was resting as comfortably as possible before pulling out what he’d need to take care of Jack.

They didn’t have a sling, but he made one by Frankensteining Jack’s jacket and strapping down Jack’s sleeve-covered arm. He used the blade on his utility knife to cut away more of Jack’s pants around his knee. When he pulled the pant leg away, he was surprised that Jack’s knee didn’t appear to be anywhere near as bad as he had originally assessed. Maybe a minor sprain, if that. He wrapped it carefully with a bandage and made sure it was tight enough to keep any further swelling down, but not tight enough to cut off circulation

Daniel turned his attention to Jack’s bloody face. He found a clean bandana in his pack and wet it with water from his canteen. The bandana darkened with blood as Daniel gently cleaned around the wound in Jack’s eyebrow. It didn’t look as bad as he initially thought.

He placed a couple of butterfly bandages to help pull the edges of the cut together and covered the whole thing with a sterile gauze pad held down with surgical tape.

He took a deep breath and sat back on his haunches.

At least Sam and Teal’c had gated home before he and Jack had been ordered… er, volunteered by General Hammond to bring the cargo ship back to Earth.

Now he just had to get Jack to that building he’d seen earlier and get both of them through the night. It was a far more defensible position, and a better vantage point should someone come to check out their wreckage.

He unzipped the sleeping bag and maneuvered it under Jack’s body. He piled their packs on either side of Jack’s feet and slowly dragged the sleeping bag, Jack and all, out through the emergency hatch and across the grass to the building.

His breath came in harsh pants and his head was beginning to swim by the time he made it inside the structure. He’d managed to find a corner where part of the wood floor of the upper level had remained intact and offered shelter in case the weather turned squirrelly. He moved the packs from the sleeping bag and zipped it up around Jack.

“Sit tight, Jack. I’m just going to get some wood.” Daniel patted Jack’s good shoulder and walked a short distance to the tree line. He gathered up a large armload of dry branches and took them back to their impromptu campsite. He made quick work of building a small fire. Daniel’s stomach growled so he dug a power bar out of his pack and ate half of it before he became too tired to chew anymore. He drifted off to sleep leaning into the corner of their little alcove.

+++++

Jack slowly became aware of every ache and pain in his body. He groaned as he shifted a little.

Why couldn’t he move his arm?

He forced his eyes open and found himself wrapped in his sleeping bag. He shifted a bit more and realized his arm must be in some sort of sling. And his knee was wrapped.

“Oh, good, you’re awake!”

Jack turned his head in the direction of the familiar voice. Daniel’s face appeared in his line of vision holding a canteen.

“Think you can sit up to drink some water?”

Jack nodded. Daniel helped him sit up and leaned Jack against his chest. He held the canteen to Jack’s lips, making sure Jack only took a couple of small sips at once.

“Open.” Daniel broke off a small piece of power bar and stuck it in Jack’s mouth. “Chew.”

Jack chewed slowly before swallowing. His stomach gurgled.

“Want more?”

Jack nodded and opened his mouth when Daniel placed more food at his lips. They continued in this vein until Jack had eaten half a power bar.

“Feel better?”

Daniel noticed Jack noticing the blood caked to the side of his head. The worry was immediately evident upon Jack’s face as his eyebrows knitted together.

“What the hell happened to your face?”

“Huh?” Daniel blinked. “Oh. It’s just a cut. Nothing major.”

Jack pushed himself to sit against the wall. “I’ll be the judge of that. Give me the canteen and the first aid kit.”

Daniel scowled but complied.

Jack stubbornly, and one-handedly, cleaned the wound and dressed it up.

When Jack had finished, Daniel stood and headed toward the crumbled doorway. “I’m going to go scout around get some more wood.”

Jack watched him leave and leaned his head back against the wall with a frown. He looked down and studied the way Daniel had turned Jack’s jacket into a sling for his shoulder and at the drag marks that painted the picture of Daniel dragging Jack’s unconscious ass out of the crashed cargo ship.

Jack smiled fondly.

Sometimes he forgot just how resourceful Daniel was.

+++++

Daniel was irritated. And he felt stupid for being irritated. But dammit, Jack touching him like that had brought up a whole lot of feelings that he’d rather not have been thinking about right then given their relationship and their current circumstances.

Daniel’s shoulders slumped.

Okay, that wasn’t fair. Jack had just wanted to make sure Daniel was okay.

Daniel started to head back to camp but remembered he was supposed to have been gathering wood for the fire. He collected an armful of sticks from the ground and started back. He almost dropped the wood when he returned to find Jack standing and limping back and forth in their little patch of sheltered ruin.

“Goddammit, Jack.” Daniel dropped his armload of sticks on top of the pile in the corner.

Jack gave Daniel a sheepish smile.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Jack shrugged his good shoulder. “I was just testing out my knee."

“And?”

“It’s sore.”

Daniel crossed his arms.

“Okay, you know what? You’re right. It was a dumb thing to do this soon after the crash, but I really hate not being useful.” Jack puffed his cheeks out with a sigh. “So, could you maybe help me sit down again? I’d do it myself, but I don’t want to risk falling on my ass.”

Daniel dropped his arms to his sides and went over to Jack. He pulled Jack good arm over his shoulder and wrapped his arm around Jack’s waist and helped lower him to the sleeping bag.

“Thanks.” Jack leaned back against the wall, sweat beading up on his forehead.

“You feel up to eating?” Daniel pulled a couple of MREs out of his pack.

“Yeah, I could eat.” Jack watched as Daniel took charge and fixed their MREs.

Daniel sat next to Jack and handed him an MRE.

They ate for a while in silence.

+++++

After a general debrief from Daniel on their crash landing and limited knowledge of their position, Jack studied Daniel as they ate; took in the dark circles and tightness around his friend’s eyes and noted Daniel’s discomfort with the lack of conversation. He felt a pang in his gut that had nothing to do with hunger.

“I’ve missed this.” Daniel murmured. He looked up at Jack. “Not the crashing and being marooned on some backwater planet, obviously, but hanging out. Just the two of us.”

Jack sighed. “Yeah. Me too.”

Daniel snorted. “Please.”

“What?” Jack frowned.

“A-are you kidding me?” Daniel asked incredulously. “I mean professionally, we’re doing okay, but outside of that, we really haven’t spent a lot of time together lately.”

Jack’s frown deepened. “That’s not true.”

“Really.” Daniel drawled.

“Really.”

Daniel set aside his MRE. “That’s not how it’s looked from where I’ve been sitting, Jack.”

“Look, Daniel,” Jack sighed, “I’ve been an ass. A colossal one.”

“No argument here.”

Jack stabbed his fork into his MRE and set the pouch between his feet. “Would you just-” He hung his head and took a deep breath before looking back at Daniel and continuing. “What I’m trying to say here is I’m sorry. I had some screwy things going on in my head and I took it all out on you. And I’m sorry, Daniel.” He bumped Daniel’s foot with his own. “For what it’s worth, I wouldn’t want to be stuck here with anyone else but you.”

“Not even Sam?”

Jack shook his head. “Been there, done that, got the frostbite. Carter really sucks at splinting, by the way. Plus _you_ were the one who figured out where we were, and that got us home. You always get us home, Daniel.”

Daniel played with the flap on one of his pants pockets. “I’m not so confident this time, Jack. I don’t have your tactical expertise. I don’t even know where to start looking.”

“Well, the ‘Gate’s usually tied in with religion, right?” Jack asked, smirking as one of Daniel’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “What? I pay attention to what you say. The Goa’uld pose as gods, so it would make sense that the portal through which the gods arrive is going to be worshiped too, wouldn’t it?”

“Yeah…” Daniel narrowed his eyes

“So… talk yourself through this from an anthropological standpoint. Start with this… erm… building and extrapolate.”

Daniel looked around the building they were in, taking in all the details. He stood and wandered the perimeter of the space.

“Well, it looks a bit medieval in construction. It had to have been two floors judging by that bit we’ve been sitting under.” Daniel chewed his lip. “It’s a bit big to be a family home, possibly some sort of church? No markings on the walls suggests that they had other materials for keeping records or some sort of history, etcetera…” He waved his hand in a circle to aid his thought processes. “If this is a church it’s probable that they would build it in line with the Stargate. The sun’s usually a prominent figure in early religions and sunrise equally so, so it stands to reason that they would put this building to the east of the ‘Gate in order to face the sunrise while they worshipped.” He spun around. “Jack, that’s it!” He pointed behind him. “I’m almost certain the ‘Gate has to be that way.”

Jack clapped his hands together. “If you say it’s that way, Daniel, then that’s the way we’ll go.” He made to stand, but Daniel put a hand on Jack’s good shoulder to stop him.

“We can start tomorrow, Jack.” Daniel said gently. “You take it easy for a bit longer.”

Jack sighed. “Yeah. You’re probably right. Shoulder’s still a bit sore. And it’s starting to get dark.” He yawned.

“Looks like you could use some sleep.”

“You too, SpaceMonkey.”

+++++

Daniel woke in the early morning to find his nose buried in Jack’s neck. He snuggled closer and closed his eyes with a smile.

“Daniel?”

Daniel’s eyes snapped back open. “Jack?”

“Whatcha doing?”

Daniel hesitated. “I was cold?”

“Ah.” Jack shifted a little.

“I’m sorry.” Daniel rolled onto his back and stared at the old wood ceiling above him.

Jack waved his hand dismissively. “Don’t mention it.”

Daniel sat up. “I’ll get us some breakfast.” He stood and walked the few steps to their packs.

Jack maneuvered himself into a sitting position as Daniel returned with power bars and their canteens.

They ate in silence.

When they were finished, Daniel passed Jack some Tylenol.

“Thanks." Jack popped the two pills in his mouth and washed them down with a swallow of water. “Shall we pack up and head out?”

Daniel nodded. “Sounds good.” He packed up their stuff, consolidating as much as he could into one pack and attached both sleeping bags to the pack

“You’re gonna kill your back like that, Daniel.” Jack protested when Daniel shouldered the heavy pack.

Daniel shot him a withering look. “Do you honestly think you could carry anything with your arm the way it is? Besides, you know I’m used to carrying around a bunch of books.” Jack caught the upturn of Daniel’s lip, funny…

“Alright.” Jack pursed his lips.

Daniel hitched the pack higher on his back and the two men set off.

They paused a few times for food and to take a short rest; but they only stopped for the day once it had become dark and Jack had almost face planted from tripping on a hidden rock.

Daniel caught Jack and steadied him. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah.” Jack straightened, his non-splinted arm still resting against Daniel’s chest.

Daniel rested his hand on Jack’s elbow. “Maybe we should call it a day and set up camp.”

Jack nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”

Daniel led them over into the tree-line where he unpacked the sleeping bags and made a small fire out of some dry branches he found nearby. They both each ate an MRE before Daniel tried to convince Jack to get some sleep.

“Jack, you’re injured. You need to rest.”

“So do you. Look, someone needs to keep watch. We’re not exactly sheltered anymore, Daniel.”

“Jack!” Daniel pinched the bridge of his nose. “Fine. I’ll keep watch for the first half of the night and I’ll wake you for the second.”

“I know you, Daniel. You’ll let me sleep and stay up all night yourself.”

“So would you. You’re injured, therefore you need more sleep than I do.”

“But you need to have all your wits about you so you can get us off this hunk of rock.”

They stared each other down.

Finally, Jack broke the silence with a sigh. “All right. You win.” Jack laid down on his sleeping bag. “I’ll let you take first watch if you _promise_ you’ll wake me for my turn.”

Daniel opened his mouth to argue, closed it, and opened it again. “I promise.”

+++++

True to his word, Daniel woke Jack for the second watch and proceeded to huddle into his own sleeping bag. It had started drizzling and the fire was rather low, but it was currently too cold to go searching for more wood. At least they were sheltered under the trees.

Daniel shivered.

Jack held out his arm in invitation.

Daniel blinked at him.

“Well? Come on then.”

Daniel scooted closer and rested his head on Jack’s uninjured shoulder. “Night, Jack.”

Jack smiled. “Goodnight, Daniel.”

After about an hour it became apparent to Jack that Daniel was too restless to fall asleep.

“Hey, Daniel.”

“Hm.”

“You okay?”

“I can’t get my brain to turn off and let me sleep.” Daniel sighed.

“Anything I can do to help?”

Daniel shrugged, uncertain if he should voice what he was sure would help him sleep.

“I can hear you thinking, Danny.” Jack looked down at Daniel where his head was pillowed on Jack’s shoulder. “Have I told you how impressed I’ve been by your skills?”

“Thank you for the acknowledgement, but I’ve always been capable. Whether or not anyone’s ever believed it.”

Jeeze, someone was cranky this morning.

“I knew that. It’s just that… you’re the idea guy. You’re the one who always comes up with those brilliant ideas to save our collective asses.”

“Jack…”

“You’re our ‘Meaning of Life’ guy. You keep our heads on straight and keep us from getting cynical and from causing any major clusterfucks.”

Daniel blinked up at Jack. It had been a long time since Jack had been this open with him.

“And I’m sorry I’ve been such an ass to you. Again.” Jack ruffled Daniel’s hair.

“You said before that you had something on your mind that was causing you to act that way, but why take it out on me?”

Jack smoothed Daniel’s hair back down. “Because it was you that was on my mind.”

“Me?! What could I have done to-”

Jack cut off Daniel’s words by cupping Daniel’s face with his left hand and running his thumb over Daniel’s lower lip.

Daniel pulled his face away. “Wait a minute. You developed feelings for me so you decided to treat me like shit?” He rolled away from Jack. “You really are an asshole, Jack.”

Jack sighed. “I’ve never had feelings for a guy before. I was scared. That you would find out how I felt about you and that you wouldn’t want to be my friend anymore.”

Daniel twisted to look over his shoulder at Jack. “Do you really think so little of our friendship, of- of _me_ that I would stop being your friend just because you had a crush on me?”

“I never said it made _sense_. I was angry at myself for putting myself in a position to fall in love with you, but I also directed some of that at you, and I truly am sorry for that.”

Daniel blinked. “Love?”

“Yeah.” Jack rubbed the back of his neck. “Who’d’a thought?”

“Well, Colonel, you have a considerably fucked up idea of love if that’s the case.” Daniel turned away again.

“Daniel-”

“Good _night_ , Jack.”

Jack sat there in silence hoping to whatever deity might exist that he hadn’t just completely fucked up with his best friend.

The silence was broken by Daniel’s whisper. “For what it’s worth, I love you, too.”

Jack whipped his head around to stare at the back of Daniel’s head. “You do?”

“But right now I’m really fucking pissed off at you. Give me at least until we get home to come to terms with everything?”

Jack tried to hold back a smile. “Sure.”

+++++

Jack and Daniel woke to the sounds of shouting. Jack had just enough time to mentally berate himself for falling asleep during his watch before he and Daniel noticed the business ends of bows and arrows aimed at them from all sides.

“Daniel?” Jack asked calmly.

“I don’t know.” Daniel listened to the shouting natives, trying to figure out if they were speaking a language he knew. Or at least one that was similar that he could fudge his way through. He held up his hands in a submissive gesture. “Hello. My name is Daniel. This is my friend Jack. We’re not here to hurt you.”

The leader of the ambushers shouted loudly at him in something that sounded like Arabic.

{{ “We don’t want to hurt you.” }} Daniel repeated in Arabic himself.

The group paused, surprised that a stranger speak anything approximating their language.

{{ “Please. We mean you no harm. We just want to go home.” }}

{{ “What are you doing here?” }} Asked the leader.

{{ “Our ship crashed.” }} Daniel explained.

{{ “We are not near any lakes or oceans.” }}

{{ “It’s a different kind of ship. One that flies.” }}

{{ “A flying ship?” }} The leader laughed. {{ “There is no such thing.” }}

Daniel sighed. {{ “Look, we were on our way home but we ended up here instead. Please, can you just take us to the Stargate?” }}

The leader furrowed his brows.

{{ “Chappa’ai? The stone circle?” }} Daniel drew a Stargate in the air with his fingers.

{{ “What do you want with the Circle of The Gods?” }} The others drew back their arrows, the bowstrings creaking under the strain

{{ “The Circle will help us get home.” }}

{{ “You are gods?” }} The leader asked, preparing to bow just in case.

{{ “Uh, no.” }}

{{ “Then you have no business with the circle.” }}

{{ “Please.” }}

{{ “No.” }}

{{ “We just-” }

Two of the men grabbed Jack and one of them held his dagger to Jack’s throat.

“Hey!” Jack yelled. “Daniel, what’s going on?”

“I asked if they could take us to the gate. They said no.”

“But what do they want with me?”

Daniel turned to the leader again. {{ “What do you want with Jack?” }}

{{ “You will be more likely to comply if your friend is in danger.” }}

{{ “Comply with what?” }}

{{ “Come with us.” }}

{{ “Where?” }}

{{ “To our village. You must face judgment." }}

Daniel looked at Jack. “They want us to go with them to their village. I’m pretty sure the Stargate isn’t there, but it doesn’t appear that we have much choice. Maybe they have some writings or something to tell me where the Stargate is.

Jack looked warily at their weapons before facing Daniel with determination. “I trust your decisions, Daniel.”

Daniel turned to face the leader again and found him staring curiously at his face. “Um…”

{{ “Those glass circles upon your face. What are they for?” }} The leader asked.

{{ “Oh! My glasses. They, uh, they help me see.” }}

{{ “How peculiar!” }} The leader plucked the glasses from Daniel’s face and held them in front of his own. {{ “You lie! They do nothing but make the world appear blurry!” }} He lowered the glasses. {{ “What witchcraft is this?” }}

{{ “Wh-what? Witchcraft? No-they’re not-” }}

The leader let out a terrified gasp, throwing Daniel’s glasses to the ground so he could point at Daniel’s eyes. {{ “Pale eyes! You have the Mark of the Warlock!” }}

{{ “The Mark of-” }} Daniel was seized by two of the men and his hands were secured behind his back with rope. {{ “Stop!” }} He shouted as they cut his GDO from his wrist.

{{ “You must be cleansed by the Holy Water or you both must die.” }}

"Wait, _what_?” Daniel yelped in English, startling Jack.

“Daniel?”

“Oh, you know. They want to cleanse me for being a warlock. Or they’ll kill us if I don’t comply.”

“The usual. Then?”

“Pretty much.”

The men hauled them to their feet and started shoving them out of the forest and in the direction Jack and Daniel had been walking the previous day.

+++++

They soon arrived at a small city that was protected by a high stone wall. Jack and Daniel were shoved through the gates and led to the city square where they found a welcome site.

The Stargate!

Daniel caught Jack’s eye and twitched a smile. He had been right about the direction of the Gate after all.

They were led to the steps of the Gate platform and Daniel thought that maybe their luck was changing.

That thought was fairly short-lived as the two men guarding Daniel marched him up to stand in front of the Gate.

Daniel sought out Jack who was off to the side at the base of the steps.

The leader pressed a symbol on the DHD. {{ “If your friend survives, then he is not a warlock and you are free to go.” }}

Jack looked up at Daniel for a translation.

“He says if I survive then we’re free to go.” Daniel’s eyes widened as the realization dawned. “Oh god, Jack! They’re going to cleanse me with the vortex!” He turned to the leader. {{ “Wait! Please! _No one_ can survive this!” }}

The leader pressed the third symbol.

{{ “You have to listen to me!” }} Daniel pleaded.

“Daniel.” Jack called out. “Look at me.”

Daniel locked his gaze on Jack.

“You’re going to be okay. Just keep your head.”

Fifth symbol.

Jack saw the moment an idea sparked to life behind Daniel’s eyes.

Sixth symbol.

Seventh symbol.

Daniel let himself become dead weight and dropped down onto the platform.

He felt the vortex stir the air above his back.

The rope around his wrists loosened.

The next thing he knew Jack was grabbing him with his good arm and propelling them through the stable wormhole.

+++++

They emerged on the other side and both Jack and Daniel stumbled off the platform and faceplanted into the dry grass.

Daniel spit some grass out of his mouth. “Jack? You okay?”

Jack rolled onto his back. “My shoulder hurts like a son-of-a-bitch, but I’m more worried about you, to be honest.”

Daniel pulled his hands free from the rope and pushed himself into a sitting position. He held up the rope looking for the failed knot, squinting without his glasses. The color drained from his face when he saw how he’d gotten free.

The vortex had disintegrated part of the rope.

Daniel gulped. “Close call.” He cleared his throat. “If I’d had my hands in any other position…”

“But you’re okay.” Jack sat up, wrapping his good arm around Daniel’s shoulders and pulling him into a hug.

The Gate shut down and the two men looked at each other.

“Time to go home?” Jack asked.

“Past time if you ask me.” Daniel replied. He stood and helped Jack to his feet.

“Hey!” Jack said suddenly.

“What?” Daniel asked as he pulled up Jack’s sleeve to reveal his GDO.

“You were right about the gate!”

“Don’t act so surprised.”

“No, I mean… I was so worried about you getting vortexed that it didn’t really hit me until just now.” Jack gently bumped Daniel’s shoulder with his fist. “But hey, I told you you’d get us home.”

+++++

“We don’t really know what happened, sir.” Jack fiddled with his pen on the table. “One minute we were in hyperspace and the next we’d crashed. I honestly don’t remember anything between suddenly seeing the planet in the front of us and waking up in a ruined building with my jacket being used as a splint.” He glanced across the table at Daniel.

“Yes, good work with that, by the way, Daniel.” Janet piped in. “The colonel should have no lingering side effects and should be fully recovered in about two weeks.”

“Daniel’s always been pretty resourceful.” Jack agreed. “I don’t believe that we would have made it back if it hadn’t been for him.”

“Jack.” Daniel ducked his head.

“It’s true. It was your cultural knowledge and quick thinking that got us off of that rock.”

“I take it there’s no way to go back and salvage the cargo ship?” Hammond asked

“I wouldn’t recommend it, sir.” Daniel scratched at the surgical tape holding a gauze pad to his forehead. “The indigenous population were ready to kill me for being a warlock because of my glasses and blue eyes. They tried to cleanse me in the Gate’s vortex, sir. We only escaped by ducking and then running through the stabilized wormhole. I think it would be better if we just gave the ship up for lost and deleted that planet from the dialing program.”

Hammond regarded Daniel thoughtfully. “I’ll take that under advisement, Doctor. And good work out there.” He looked around the table at SG-1 and Dr. Frasier. “In the meantime, SG-1 is on leave for the next week.” He gathered up his notes. “Dismissed.”

Everyone dispersed, leaving Jack and Daniel to follow behind a bit more stiffly.

“So, Daniel.” Jack patted his friend on the back. “Dinner at my place?”

“Um, sure. I guess.”

“Pizza sound okay? I don’t really feel like cooking.”

Daniel nodded. “Pizza sounds amazing.”

“See you at 1730 then.”

Daniel smiled. “It's a date.”

+++++

Jack and Daniel sprawled on Jack’s couch after having polished off an entire large pepperoni pizza and watched the end of the hockey game.

“I meant what I said.” Jack spoke.

Daniel rewound through their conversations that evening to try to make a connection. “About not liking anchovies?”

“No. Well, yes, but that’s not what I was thinking about.”

“And that would be?”

“That I don’t believe we would have made it back in one piece if it hadn’t been for you.”

“I didn’t do everything, Jack.”

“Might as well have, for all the good I was.”

“You were the one that snapped me out of my panic when those people were going to vaporize me. You were the one who pulled me through the gate.”

“But you helped get me well enough to be there to do so. And if you recall, I was the one that tripped us up on the other side.”

Daniel rolled his eyes.

“I’m serious though. You played an integral part in getting us home.” Jack bumped Daniel’s elbow. “I’m proud of you.”

Daniel felt a blush warm his cheeks. “Thanks, Jack.” He gave Jack a kiss on the cheek and rested his head on Jack’s shoulder.

“You just kissed me.”

“Yes I did.”

“Does that mean…?” Jack asked hopefully.

Daniel reached up and turned Jack’s face toward his own. He gently placed a kiss on Jack’s lips. “Yeah.”

“Sweet.” Jack grinned and proceeded to kiss Daniel back.


End file.
